LETTER: Protecting the people?

Why are we in such a hurry to destroy our environment? I live in Lee County and still use groundwater for my well. Once “fracking” poisons get pumped into the ground, who is going to provide my water then? This, in a nutshell, is why the DENR doesn’t want the EPA grant to test our rivers, creeks and wetlands. This is our groundwater and ends up being used as our drinking water. Perhaps the people living in Sanford and surrounding communities should find out where their water is coming from!

The proposed EPA grant [for] water testing was specifically for surface waters (rivers, creeks and wetlands) in the Lee County area, not private water wells. Baseline testing of private water wells (groundwater) will be required when a gas operator applies for a drilling permit. Surface water testing and groundwater testing are not the same and have different testing protocols, and more importantly, can reveal different problems. The actual EPA application states, “This project will use the developed monitoring protocols to obtain baseline stream and wetland data in areas that may be impacted by hydraulic fracturing to assess issues that may arise from the development and implementation of these methods in N.C. “ That is why this data collection is a problem for DENR, and why it will not conduct this study. The current DENR leadership doesn’t want to know anything that might interfere with the rush to fracking in Lee County.

Their point about not collecting data now, because it will be too old, flies in the face of scientific methods. I suppose in John Skvarla’s world, the dinosaurs couldn’t have existed because of “old” data. The whole point of data collection is to monitor and assess change over time, something DENR has been doing for decades in its surface water testing program across the state. Unfortunately, this new ramped-up-for-fracking DENR leadership wants to do less for the people in Lee and Chatham counties. This is not about saving money, or better protecting the people. It is about paving the way to give Lee County to the oil industry.

I am so tired of the “Hooray for me, screw you attitude” those in power have over the people they are supposed to protect.